A defense lawyer for accused murderer Bobby Lavon Buckner on Thursday questioned the identification of Ashleigh Moore as the body found in 2003.

“It has come out that this might not be the body of Ashleigh Moore,” attorney Newell Hamilton Jr. told Chatham County Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann.

Moore, a 12-year-old DeRenne Middle School honor student, disappeared from her home at 6 Weiner Drive early April 18, 2003. Her body was found about three weeks later — on May 14, 2003 — near the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on General McIntosh Boulevard.

Buckner, 36-year-old live-in boyfriend of Moore’s mother, Michelle Moore, tentatively is scheduled for trial April 25 on charges of murder and kidnapping with bodily injury.

During pre-trial motion hearings Thursday, Hamilton, who leads a defense team from the Capital Defense Office, complained that the “state” continued a pattern of “callous indifference” toward Buckner’s rights.

Specifically, he said Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner Dr. James Downs has failed to turn over forensic examination material, autopsy files and email records to the defense despite an order from Freesemann that he do so.

Hamilton wants Freesemann to bar Downs from testifying, as well as all evidence relating to the autopsy of Moore’s body as punishment for alleged violations of pre-trial discovery.

Hamilton accused Chief Assistant District Attorney David Perry of “bad faith” in the discovery flap.

Key to Hamilton’s argument were documents from Dr. Rick Snow, now a private forensic anthropologist, which the defense obtained this week showing the victim found May 14 exhibited skeletal characteristics that were “infrequent” below age 20,

Moore was age 12, he noted.

“The notations of Dr. Snow call the identification of the body into question,” Hamilton argued in a motion filed Thursday. That “undercuts the state’s theory of guilt.”

“At this point, the defense has no choice but to cry foul ... from a demonstrable pattern of state misconduct,” Hamilton argued in a motion filed Thursday.

He said actions by Downs have wasted valuable preparation time for trial and placed the defense in the position of having to ask for a continuance or proceed to trial unprepared.

Hamilton called the state’s actions “a flagrant disregard of the orders of this court. ... We just want a level playing field. These discovery issues have surfaced again and again and again.”

But Chief Assistant District Attorney David Perry told Freesemann that Hamilton’s characterizations were “very much incorrect.”

Perry said he sent a letter on May 20, 2011, to the GBI crime lab, along with Freesemann’s order requiring disclosure of required discovery material.

“There’s no bad faith on the part of the district attorney’s office,” Perry said. “There have been some gaps.”

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

"“It has come out that this might not be the body of Ashleigh Moore,” attorney Newell Hamilton Jr. told Chatham County Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann". Hello? Who the He77 would it be? OMG how disgusting it must be to be the one representing a cold blooded murderer of a child. While I've never heard of him, I wonder how Newell Hmilton Jr sleeps at night? Judge Freesman is so far advanced beyond the antics of whats his name Hamilton, she'll make the right decision.

MONEY....I really wish he would just hang himself and die...or get killed in prison...He is a waste of air.... And Ashleys' mother should be in jail with his [filtered word]. She is to be blamed for having that pervert around her child....Damn shame she wanted a piece of man that bad to knowing have a pedofile as a boyfriend!! Sick!!!!!

If the murderer waits long enough he will be out on parole....but I bet it is hell---o being a convicted child murderer in prison...are you tired of dancing...cause I know you cannot box..if you took the life of a defenseless child!!..Do you honestly thinks the streets will accept you once they find out who you are...and what you did..NO...so once out are you asking for a change of identity and a new place to reside...go figure only someone like you could attempt something this low..you were already a sex offender when you committed the crime..now do your time you silly dancer!

First off it would be nice if you could believe everything that the news media machine and the district attorney are saying, but the truth is the accused doesn’t get to tell their side of the story till trial. So the only side of the story you get to hear is the story crafted by the prosecution. The truth is that, yes bobby did plead guilty to a child molestation charge, but what they are not telling you the girl was 16 and he was 21 and her parents had full knowledge of the relationship. It only became a crime when a jealous ex-girlfriend reported him. In order to not spend any prison time and get on with his life he took a guilty plea. Now go to the next case when they started the investigation the detectives new that bobby had the charge on his record. So they didn’t look any further into it they had their man. Never mind the evidence that pointed to a Caucasian suspect (they found Caucasian hair samples in the girls under garments) or the fact that bobby was at work when this supposed happened. The detectives tried to lose or destroy any evidence that didn’t fit their story. With the prior convection they thought it would be a slam dunk, they don’t care if this is the guy that did it or not. They just want someone to hang it on.